Personal Bests

A Look Back.

Is that a mouthful or what? A mouthful of a name for a mouthful of a cookie. When I set out to make this recipe, my intention was to simply make carrot cake cookies. The type of treat you can have when you want dessert but have no desire to bake an entire cake. So I made the cookies – which were delicious on their own – but things got a bit out of control from there…

Two cookies are most definitely better than one, and a creamy layer of cream cheese in between is quite literally – the icing on the cake. These fun treats are perfect for serving at a party or lunch, and they taste surprisingly light and fluffy despite how decadent they look.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Whoopie Pies

by Emily Malone

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients (24 cookies or 12 whoopie pies)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup Earth Balance spread (or butter)

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 cup (loose) light brown sugar

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons non-dairy milk

1 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup raisins (I used a mix of purple and golden!)

1 tub vegan cream cheese (optional)

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients – flour through spices – and set aside.

Using a mixer, beat Earth Balance and sugars together until it is fluffy and creamy. Continue to beat slowly as you add the banana, vanilla, and milk.

Add flour mixture to the wet mixture, and mix until just combined. Grate carrot, and then fold carrots and raisins in with a spatula. (Walnuts would also be good here!)

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop cookies evenly onto a greased sheet pan. You’ll need to do two rounds of cooking since this recipe makes two dozen.

Bake for 10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack.

They are delicious enough on their own, but I’d recommend taking them one step further. If you want to keep it simple, spread (vegan) cream cheese on the top of the cookie as a frosting.

But why stop at one cookie when you can eat two? Spread a generous amount of cream cheese on the bottom of one cookie, and then top it with a second cookie – bottom side toward the cream cheese again.

Take a bite. Make sure to keep breathing.

These are everything dessert should be – sweet, light, and so satisfying. I served these at my mom’s group and the whole batch was gone within a day.

@Caitlin C… I tend to find that a mixture of half almond meal and half oat or brown rice flour replaces wheat flour pretty well in cookie recipes. I haven’t tried it here, but you can bet I’m going to!

And Emily, what brand of vegan cream cheese do you use? I tried Tofutti once and it was gross enough that it scared me away from future purchases. But I’d love to try this recipe in its entirety!

Hey Katie! Nope, no more counting calories for quite some time. More just because I eventually found the natural balance and got a good feel for how much I should eat in a given day. That was when I was looking to lose weight, and now I’m just interesting in staying around the same weight/size I am now!

Oh darn, I have all of the ingredients on hand… Guess I am going to have to make these!! And I love that your recipes are dairyfree/vegan but also can use dairy as an easy replacement! Not always d-free but am nursing a reflux-y baby!

My boyfriend wanted carrot cake for his birthday back in July but the weather was so hot I kept putting off turning on the oven. Now the idea of making a cake two months later seems silly but I love the idea of turning it into cookies!

Looks like a nice, healthy treat for moms and little ones alike! I really minimize sugar intake with my 13-month-old (i.e., fresh and dried fruit is usually as sweet as it gets — no juice, no added sugars), but every once and awhile, it’s fun to share some nibbles of a special treat with him.

Hi! I made these this weekend since I was carbo-loading for a race on Sunday, and I thought they would also make a delicious race day breakfast… I made a few modifications to fit what I had at home: replaced the banana with 1/2 cup of pumpkin pie filling, replaced the raisins with chopped dates and added unsweetened coconut. It turned out amazing!